John the brewmaster handed me a half pint of this the first time he brewed it and I just about fell over. Not only because John almost never gives free beer. This almost made me cry--it was like the Dragonís Breath Pale Ale from Kingston Brewing Company, but heartier. Very classic English IPA. Nice big hop nose (English, maybe Kentish hops, I donít know my hops, definitely not West Coast USA hops). Pours a light amber with, well, they give a little too much head at the Merchant, but I forgive them. Nice lacing, and hops all the way down. I just wish John had the capacity to keep this on tap more often. People like me drink too much of it. Johnís a pheonomal brewer.

The aroma was dominated by the hops. Aromas of pine, and citrus were there.
Hazy. One finger of head. Poor head retention. Copper/ amber in colour.
Good hop flavouring; grassy, a little bit of citrus, pine. Good hop bittering too. Enough malt to stand up to the hops so it is not out of balance.
Overall, Itís a nice juicy IPA

On tap, at the brewpub in St. Catharines. Dark orange pour, frothy/creamy white head. Nice subtle grapefruit aroma. Really nice balanced hoppy taste, medium bodied, and a decent malt base. A real session brew full of flavour and easily one of the best IPAís Ontario has to offer. Nice job.

I enjoyed this IPA, it had a nice hoppie tastem quite fruity. If I had to guess I would say they use a different hop for their main hop in the beer then most other IPAís I have had, it was a different IPA but it fit great for the style

On tap at the Merchant Ale House. Pours a hazy orange hued amber with a medium sized tanned beige head. Big pine and citrus aromas. Medium bodied, light caramel, nice grapefruit tones, a slight off note of mineral and metal. Finishes up with a long grapefruit bitterness with a faint hint of caramel. Pretty solid.

On tap at brewery. This beer is a bit of a full circle event for me as this was the first IPA that I had so many moons ago that made me like them hops. I must admit that this wasnít as bad as I thought it would be. Pours with a slight haze and is red/orange in colour. There are those hoppy citrus aroma with hint of pine cones but they are rather muted and simple. On the palate it is medium to full bodied, has those classic hoppy leafy notes expected from the style. Overall this is a rather simple but well done american styled IPA. Not the worst beer brewed in the region.

UPDATED: JUL 25, 2008 2008-07-19. Hazy orange amber, modest creamy off-white head. Pithy citrus aroma, light note of seeds. (7+) Same in the flavour, blunt but pleasant citrusy hop character. (7+) Average plus palate. Damn! Where did this come from? Theres no question that this scored a point or two higher after sampling a lackluster series of their lesser brews first, but this was rather nice. 7+/3/7+/3/15 3.5 Draft at the brewpub

Definitely more English character to this brew, really should be a sub-style or something as I donít think itís fair to compare it to the west-coast IPAs. Lots of hop aroma in this brew, and a good bitterness in the mouth that was nicely balanced with a subtle malt profile.

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